The architecture of urban life: 67 rue des Meuniers

WithDiana Periton

In a quiet neighbourhood of eastern Paris, in the cleft of a valley where the rue
des Meuniers (Mill Road) meets the rue de la Brèche aux Loups (‘Escape Route
of the Wolves’) is a solid, calmly assertive building of yellow-grey brick (Figure
8.1). The rhythm of the windows, the near equality of its eight storeys, its single
door and the disciplined exuberance of its brickwork serve together to mark it
out as a housing block designed to give dignity to occupants of moderate
means. Carved stone plaques on either side of the door indicate that it was built
in 1911, and that the architect was Jacques Bonnier (Figure 8.2). But the
Bonnier archives make clear that Jacques’ father, Louis, was in fact largely
responsible; the aim of the attribution was to launch Jacques’ architectural
career, through a building whose developer-client was another family member,
Louis Bonnier’s cousin Jules Cuisinier.1